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Fungisai Kwaramba

Political Editor 

THE creation of industries as technology is harnessed through the heritage-based Education 5.0 model has attracted interest from the Sadc region with countries like Mozambique now relying on Zimbabwe’s industrial products.

One example is the production of all three critical gases for industrial use: nitrogen, oxygen, and acetylene (or ethyne) by Verify Engineering, a wholly-owned Government company that taps into local talent.

Last week, President Mnangagwa commissioned the acetylene gas plant at Verify Engineering in Feruka near Mutare, less than a year after commissioning the oxygen and nitrogen plants.

The mass production of 100 percent pure oxygen has attracted interest from neighbouring countries that are already buying from Verify Engineering.

Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira said during the commissioning of the plant last Wednesday that President Mnangagwa’s vision of an expanding industrial base through applied technology plus the engagement and re-engagement policy has seen Mozambique being a customer of Verify Engineering.

“Besides the local interest in the products of Verify Engineering, there is now available regional demand for VE gases, thanks to your marketing efforts. 

“Your Excellency, you pioneered the marketing of the gases in the region and your visit to Mozambique has since opened doors and opportunities for Verify Engineering to supply oxygen to at least four hospitals in Tete, Beira and Chimoio. 

“For the first time through your leadership, Verify Engineering will be exhibiting at Maputo Trade Fair in September this year, showcasing their products and Zimbabwe’s engineering capabilities,” said Prof Murwira.

The gases produced by Verify Engineering are among the principal gases in industry, with ultra-pure exygen also needed in medical use, and their local production will not only allow the country to save foreign currency but also earn it through exports.

“We are committed to innovation in the Second Republic because innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship, modernisation and industrialisation. Innovation is an act that endows resources with capacity to create wealth, we are therefore grateful to you Your Excellency for making innovation a subject of national interest.”

A nation’s strength, Professor Murwira said, is tested on what it can do on its own and Zimbabwe under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, who came up with innovation hubs and industrial parks, is finding solutions to local challenges through his principle, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”, towards the attainment of Vision 2030 to make Zimbabwe an upper middle-class economy.

“This is our nation and we will accomplish every objective that we set in order to meet the objectives of Vision 2030. Through your leadership we are creating new industries, using our hands, using our money, using our people, using our resources. 

“We are venturing into areas dzainzi musabate; we are giving courage to our young boys and girls to be innovative, to be adventurous. We have thus been able to produce an oxygen and nitrogen plant, which you commissioned last year, and we now have the acetylene plant that you commissioned. 

“This was fully funded by the Government of Zimbabwe; every penny came from our pockets. Through this support, you have demonstrated to us that innovative ideas that are followed by action can change a nation.”

Through President Mnangagwa’s pragmatic leadership, Zimbabwe has now reached a stage where methods of the country’s development can be drawn from Education 5.0.

“We will industrialise and modernise our nation through innovation. We might not have much as other nations but as Zimbabwe, we know that empty pockets can never hold anyone back, its only empty heads that can. This is time for action,” Prof Murwira said.